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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 4, NUMBER 10, OCTOBER 1991

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
GENERAL INTEREST AND POLICY

Item #d91oct1

"Getting Started: No-Regrets Strategies for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions," E. Mills (Dept. Environ. Studies, Univ. Lund, Gerdagatan 13, S-223 62 Lund, Swed.), D. Wilson, T.B. Johansson, Energy Policy, 19(6), 526-542, July-Aug. 1991.

An integrated approach for choosing among energy supply- and demand-side measures shows that global greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced well below current levels with net economic benefits, compared to business-as-usual demand patterns. But achieving significant emissions reductions will require policies aimed at enabling energy markets to function more efficiently, and supporting legislation where market forces do not suffice.

Item #d91oct2

"Buying Greenhouse Insurance," A.A. Manne (Operations Res., Stanford Univ., Stanford CA 94305), R.G. Richels, ibid., 543-552.

Uses a decision-tree analysis to examine how optimal hedging strategy against climate change might vary with: the damage potential associated with increasing greenhouse gases; the accuracy and timing of climate research; the prospects for new supply and conservation technologies.

Item #d91oct3

"Cooling the Greenhouse with Bioenergy," D.O. Hall (Div. Biosphere Sci., King's College, Campden Hill Rd., London W8 7AH, UK), H.E. Mynick, R.H. Williams, Nature, 353(6339), 11-12, Sep. 5, 1991. Argues that global warming could be reduced more effectively by using biomass for energy than by sequestering carbon by growing more trees.

Item #d91oct4

"National Greenhouse Accounting," K.R. Gurney (Tellus Inst., 89 Broad St., Boston MA 02110), ibid., 23. Proposes a new approach called integrated forcing contribution, which quantifies each country's past contributions to present greenhouse gas concentrations.

Item #d91oct5

Comments and replies on "Response to Skeptics of Global Warming," by W.W. Kellogg, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 72(9), 1392-1396, Sep. 1991.

Item #d91oct6

"Climatic Change in Tasmania Inferred from a 1089-Year Tree-Ring Chronology of Huon Pine," E. Cook (Tree-Ring Lab., Lamont-Doherty Geol. Observatory, Palisades NY 10964), T. Bird et al., Science, 253(5025), 1266-1268, Sep. 13, 1991.

Since 1965, huon pine growth has been unusually rapid compared to the rest of the period analyzed. The growth correlates well with recent anomalous warming indicated by instrument records and supports claims that a climatic change, perhaps influenced by greenhouse gases, is in progress. However, the recent increase has not clearly emerged from the natural temperature variability of the region.

Item #d91oct7

"The Greenhouse and Antigreenhouse Effects on Titan," C.P. McKay (Space Sci. Div., NASA-Ames, Moffett Field CA 94035), J.B. Pollack, R. Courtin, ibid. 253(5024), 1118-1122, Sep. 6, 1991.

The many parallels between the atmospheric thermal structure of Saturn's satellite Titan and the terrestrial greenhouse effect provide a comparison for theories of the heat balance of Earth. Titan has an anti-greenhouse effect that results from a high-altitude haze layer that is transparent in the thermal infrared, which reduces the surface temperature by 9 K, while the greenhouse effect raises it by 21 K.

Item #d91oct8

"Interpretation of Snow-Climate Feedback as Produced by 17 General Circulation Models," R.D. Cess, G.L. Potter et al., ibid.(5022), 888-892, Aug. 23, 1991.

Although snow feedback is expected to amplify any warming from greenhouse gases, this GCM comparison (using sea surface temperature as a surrogate for climate change) shows that the conventional explanation of this process is overly simplistic. Because of indirect effects, the model responses ranged from a weak negative feedback to a strong positive feedback.

Item #d91oct9

"Increase in the PSC-Formation Probability Caused by High-Flying Aircraft," Th. Peter (M. Planck Inst. Chem., POB 3060, D-6500 Mainz, Ger.), C. Brühl, P.J. Crutzen, Geophys. Res. Lett., 18(8), 1465-1468, Aug. 1991.

Uses stratospheric temperature data to estimate the expected increase in polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) resulting from the injection of nitric acid and water vapor by aircraft. Between December and March there might be more than a doubling in the occurrence of PSCs in the polar cap region, with a substantially increased destruction of ozone by chlorine radicals.

Item #d91oct10

"Abrupt Deep-Sea Warming, Palaeoceanographic Changes and Benthic Extinctions at the End of the Palaeocene," J.P. Kennett (Marine Sci. Inst., Univ. California, Santa Barbara CA 93106), L.D. Stott, ibid., 353(6341), 225-229, Sep. 19, 1991.